Teaching in School and College

Paperback | January 19, 2012

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912. Excerpt: ... TEACHING ENGLISH LITERATURE IT is a common saying that English Literature cannot be taught; but it is false, for I have been teaching it twenty years. The problems of the teacher of English are not the problems of those who teach Mathematics, physical science, and foreign languages, but it is absurd to suppose English cannot be taught, and taught in a disciplinary as well as in an instructive fashion. All this depends partly on the method, and mainly on the teacher. Someone has said that there is naturally more discipline in the study of Mathematics than in the study of History, if History be taught one hour a week and Mathematics five: put them on an equal allotment and on an equal dignity, and it is at least possible that the disparity would not appear so grossly. For a great many years, the idea prevailed at Oxford and Cambridge that English Literature could not be taught. Anglo-Saxon could be taught, either as a foreign language, or as a linguistic science; historical English grammar and phonetics could be taught, but not Literature. Such ideas are now losing ground. If distinction in philology and linguistics were an absolute sine qua non for the teacher of English Literature, I should have to seek another occupation. I have the highest respect for linguistic studies, and realise their importance. But they affect me exactly as other sciences do--I have no talent for them, and no deep interest there. I know this sounds like blasphemy, but it happens to be the humble truth. I went through the grind of Anglo-Saxon, as every would-be professor of English Literature should do. At Yale we quite properly, and with my active and hearty approval and support, require the study of Anglo-Saxon as a requisite to the doctor's degree in English. Not only is it exce...